Mclean County Independent

Garrison regains largest county city status

3/24/11 (Thu)

Census: Garrison regains largest county city status
By STU MERRY

Garrison has regained the title as McLean County’s largest city.
Figures released by the U. S. Census Bureau and presented to county and city officials show Garrison’s population to be 1,453 – a 10.24 percent jump from 10 years ago when Census figures showed the community’s population was 1,318. Washburn has had the largest city distinction for the past decade.
In Cardinal Country, a 10.30 percent decline was noted. Washburn’s population fell from 1,389 in 2000 to 1,246 this year, according to the Census Department. Both Washburn and Garrison also have large outlying populations, but they are not included in the figures.
McLean County’s population fell from 9,311 to 8,962 – a 3.7 percent decline.
Next to Garrison, Max saw the next largest number of new residents (56), for a 20.14 percent jump.
The community seeing the largest percentage increase was Benedict. The community’s population increased nearly 25 percent (53 to 66).
The McLean County community with the largest percentage decline was Ruso where the population declined by two, going from six to four.
County commissioners noted the ups and downs in population distribution at their meeting Monday. Auditor Les Korgel said with figures in hand, he does not foresee any change in commission boundaries.
“We might get lucky and have to not do any redistricting at all,” he said.
Legislative district boundaries could be another story, he said. But that decision will be made by the Legislature later this fall.
District 4 saw a modest increase. Sen. John Warner said the district is the smallest in terms of population after the last redistricting.
“And we still fall within the standard deviation if they increase to 39 districts,” he said.